Conditional transmission deferral for dual wireless band coexistence

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication system is presented for multiple wireless technology coexistence in a mobile device. A method according to this application might include obtaining one or more transmit allocation parameters for a wireless transmission via a first radio technology at a first wireless processor and the preparing to receive wireless data via a second radio technology at a second wireless processor. Next, the exemplary method might request that the wireless transmission be deferred, followed by deciding whether to grant the deferral request based at least on the one or more transmit allocation parameters.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/212,334, entitled “Conditional Transmission Deferral for DualWireless Band Coexistence,” filed on Mar. 14, 2014, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/799,802,entitled “Conditional Deference for Dual Wireless Band Coexistence” andfiled on Mar. 15, 2013, the disclosures of each of which are fullyincorporated herein by reference for all purposes and to the extent notinconsistent with this application.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Application

The disclosure is directed to wireless communications and, moreparticularly, to conditional deference for dual wireless band (e.g.,cellular and ISM band) coexistence in wireless communications.

Background of the Disclosure

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide variouscommunication services, such as: voice, video, packet data,circuit-switched info, broadcast, messaging services, and so on. Atypical wireless communication system, or network, can provide multipleusers access to one or more shared resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmitpower, etc.). These systems can be multiple-access systems that arecapable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharingavailable system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systemsinclude Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time DivisionMultiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access(FDMA) systems and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)systems.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system cansimultaneously support communication for multiple wireless devices orterminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one ormore base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links.The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from thebase stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refersto the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. Thiscommunication link can be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO),single-in-multiple-out (SIMO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or amultiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.

For instance, a MIMO system can employ multiple (N_(T)) transmitantennas and multiple (N_(R)) receive antennas for data transmission. AMIMO channel formed by the N_(T) transmit and N_(R) receive antennas canbe decomposed into N_(S) independent channels, which are also referredto as spatial channels, where N_(S)≤min {N_(T), N_(R)}. Each of theN_(S) independent channels can correspond to a dimension. The MIMOsystem can provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and/orgreater reliability) if the additional dimensionalities created by themultiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized.

A MIMO system can support a time division duplex (TDD) and frequencydivision duplex (FDD) systems. In an FDD system, the transmitting andreceiving channels are separated with a guard band (some amount ofspectrum that acts as a buffer or insulator), which allows two-way datatransmission by, in effect, opening two distinct radio links. In a TDDsystem, only one channel is used for transmitting and receiving,separating them by different time slots. No guard band is used. This canincrease spectral efficiency by eliminating the buffer band and can alsoincrease flexibility in asynchronous applications. For example, if lesstraffic travels in the uplink, the time slice for that direction can bereduced, and reallocated to downlink traffic.

Wireless communication systems oftentimes employ one or more basestations that provide a coverage area. A typical base station cantransmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast and/or unicastservices, wherein a data stream may be a stream of data that can be ofindependent reception interest to a mobile device. A mobile devicewithin the coverage area of such base station can be employed to receiveone, more than one, or all the data streams carried by the compositestream. Likewise, a mobile device can transmit data to the base stationor another mobile device.

With the proliferation of wireless communication systems and providers,including individuals providing their own networks, wireless devices areregularly located within two or more systems at one time. Thus, wirelessdevices can be designed to communicate with multiple wirelesscommunication systems at the same time. Such devices may includemultiple antenna and associated radio/processing circuitry fortransmitting/receiving on multiple systems, potentially at the sametime. In such instances, it is possible that the transmission from thewireless device on one wireless access network might interfere with thesimultaneous, attempted reception by the wireless device on anotherwireless access network.

Therefore, what are needed are techniques for better managing thecoexistence of a wireless device on multiple, disparate wirelesscommunication systems, for example, during simultaneous transmission(s)and/or reception(s) on these different wireless access networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless multiple-access communicationsystem according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary mobile device or userequipment (UE) according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary enhanced Node B (eNB)or similar mobile communication node (e.g., base station, access point,etc.) according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary multi-network wireless communicationsystem according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary multi-network, adjacent channelinterference frequency profile according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary general mobile device architecture forhandling multi-network wireless communications according to certainembodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary LTE/Wi-Fi coexistence managementflowchart according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary harm prediction with conditionaldeferral flowchart according to certain embodiments; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary harm prediction with conditionaldeferral flowchart according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is directed to certain sampleembodiments. However, the disclosure can be embodied in a multitude ofdifferent ways as defined and covered by the claims. In thisdescription, reference is made to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated with like numerals within this application.

Various techniques described herein can be used with one or more ofvarious wireless communication systems, such as Code Division MultipleAccess (“CDMA”) systems, Multiple-Carrier CDMA (“MCCDMA”), Wideband CDMA(“W-CDMA”), High-Speed Packet Access (“HSPA,” “HSPA+”) systems, TimeDivision Multiple Access (“TDMA”) systems, Frequency Division MultipleAccess (“FDMA”) systems, Single-Carrier FDMA (“SC-FDMA”) systems,Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (“OFDMA”) systems, orother multiple access techniques. Wireless communication systemsemploying the teachings herein may be designed to implement one or morestandards, such as IS-95, cdma2000, IS-856, W-CDMA, TDSCDMA, and otherstandards. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (“UTRA)”, cdma2000, or some othertechnology. UTRA includes W-CDMA and Low Chip Rate (“LCR”). The cdma2000technology covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA networkmay implement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (“GSM”). An OFDMA network may implement a radiotechnology such as Evolved UTRA (“E-UTRA”), IEEE 802.11 (“Wi-Fi”), IEEE802.16 “(WiMAX”), IEEE 802.20 (“MBWA”), Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA, E-UTRA,and GSM are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (“UMTS”).The teachings herein may be implemented in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution(“LTE”) system, an Ultra-Mobile Broadband (“UMB”) system, and othertypes of systems. LTE is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. Althoughcertain aspects of the disclosure may be described using 3GPPterminology, it is to be understood that the teachings herein may beapplied to 3GPP (Rel99, Re15, Re16, Re17) technology, as well as 3GPP2(1×RTT, 1×EV-DO Rel0, RevA, RevB) technology and other technologies,such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX, WMBA and the like.

This disclosure makes reference to various wireless communicationterminologies, such as access point, uplink (UL), mobile device, basestation, downlink (DL), user equipment (UE), Node B (NB), forward link,access terminal (AT), reverse link and enhanced NB (eNB). The use (orlack thereof) of these and other names for various parts of a wirelesscommunication system is not intended to indicate or mandate oneparticular device, one particular standard or protocol, or oneparticular signaling direction. The use (or lack thereof) of these andother names is strictly for descriptive convenience and such names maybe interchanged within this application without any loss of coverage orrights.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wirelessmultiple-access communication system 100 according to certainembodiments. In one example, an enhanced Node B (eNB) base station 102includes multiple antenna groups. As shown in FIG. 1, one antenna groupcan include antennas 104 and 106, another can include antennas 108 and110, and another can include antennas 112 and 114. While only twoantennas are shown in FIG. 1 for each antenna group, it should beappreciated that more or fewer antennas may be utilized for each antennagroup. As shown, user equipment (UE) 116 can be in communication withantennas 112 and 114, where antennas 112 and 114 transmit information toUE 116 over downlink (or forward link) 120 and receive information fromUE 116 over uplink (or reverse link) 118. Additionally and/oralternatively, UE 122 can be in communication with antennas 104 and 106,where antennas 104 and 106 transmit information to UE 122 over downlink126 and receive information from US 122 over uplink 124. In a frequencydivision duplex (FDD) system, communication links 118, 120, 124 and 126can use different frequency for communication. In time division duplex(TDD) systems, the communication links can use the same frequency forcommunication, but at differing times.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed tocommunicate can be referred to as a sector of the eNB or base station.In accordance with one aspect, antenna groups can be designed tocommunicate to mobile devices in a sector of areas covered by eNB 102.In communication over downlinks 120 and 126, the transmitting antennasof eNB 102 can utilize beamforming in order to improve thesignal-to-noise ratio of downlinks for the different UEs 116 and 122.Also, a base station using beamforming to transmit to UEs scatteredrandomly through its coverage causes less interference to mobile devicesin neighboring cells than a base station transmitting through a singleantenna to all its UEs. In addition to beamforming, the antenna groupscan use other multi-antenna or antenna diversity techniques, such asspatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, pattern diversity, polarizationdiversity, transmit/receive diversity, adaptive arrays, and the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram 200 of an exemplary mobile device oruser equipment (UE) 210 according to certain embodiments. As shown inFIG. 2, UE 210 may include a transceiver 210, an antenna 220, aprocessor 230, and a memory 240 (which, in certain embodiments, mayinclude memory in a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card). In certainembodiments, some or all of the functionalities described herein asbeing performed by mobile communication devices may be provided byprocessor 230 executing instructions stored on a computer-readablemedium, such as the memory 240, as shown in FIG. 2. Additionally, UE 210may perform uplink and/or downlink communication functions, as furtherdisclosed herein, via transceiver 210 and antenna 220. While only oneantenna is shown for UE 210, certain embodiments are equally applicableto multi-antenna and possibly multi-transceiver mobile devices, whichmay be used for communicating with one wireless or multiple wirelesssystems, either serially or in parallel (e.g., simultaneously). Incertain embodiments, UE 210 may include additional components beyondthose shown in FIG. 2 that may be responsible for enabling or performingthe functions of UE 210, such as communicating with a base station in anetwork and for processing information for transmitting or fromreception, including any of the functionality described herein. Suchadditional components are not shown in FIG. 2 but are intended to bewithin the scope of coverage of this application.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram 300 of an exemplary enhanced Node B(eNB) 310 or similar mobile communication node (e.g., base station,access point, etc.) according to certain embodiments. As shown in FIG.3, eNB 310 may include a baseband processor 310 to provide radiocommunication with mobile handsets via a radio frequency (RF)transmitter 340 and RF receiver 330 units coupled to the eNB antenna320. While only one antenna is shown, certain embodiments are applicableto multi-antenna configurations. RF transmitter 340 and RF receiver 330may be combined into one, transceiver unit, or duplicated to facilitatemultiple antenna connections. Baseband processor 320 may be configured(in hardware and/or software) to function according to a wirelesscommunications standard, such as 3GPP LTE. Baseband processor 320 mayinclude a processing unit 332 in communication with a memory 334 toprocess and store relevant information for the eNB and a scheduler 336,which may provide scheduling decisions for mobile devices serviced byeNB 310. Scheduler 336 may have some or all of the same data structureas a typical scheduler in an eNB in an LTE system.

Baseband processor 330 may also provide additional baseband signalprocessing (e.g., mobile device registration, channel signal informationtransmission, radio resource management, etc.) as required. Processingunit 332 may include, by way of example, a general purpose processor, aspecial purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, amicrocontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integratedcircuit (IC), and/or a state machine. Some or all of the functionalitiesdescribed herein as being provided by a mobile base station, a basestation controller, a node B, an enhanced node B, an access point, ahome base station, a femtocell base station, and/or any other type ofmobile communications node may be provided by processing unit 332executing instructions stored on a computer-readable data storagemedium, such as the memory 334 shown in FIG. 3.

In certain embodiments, eNB 310 may further include a timing and controlunit 360 and a core network interface unit 370, such as are shown inFIG. 3. Timing and control unit 360 may monitor operations of basebandprocessor 330 and network interface unit 370, and may provideappropriate timing and control signals to these units. Network interfaceunit 370 may provide a bi-directional interface for eNB 310 tocommunicate with a core or back-end network (not shown) to facilitateadministrative and call-management functions for mobile subscribersoperating in the network through eNB 310.

Certain embodiments of the base station 310 may include additionalcomponents responsible for providing additional functionality, includingany of the functionality identified herein and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the solution described herein. Although featuresand elements are described in particular combinations, each feature orelement can be used alone without the other features and elements or invarious combinations with or without one or more features and elements.Methodologies provided herein may be implemented in a computer program,software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable storage medium(e.g., memory 334 in FIG. 3) for execution by a general purpose computeror a processor (e. g., processing unit 332 in FIG. 3). Examples ofcomputer-readable storage media include read only memory (ROM), randomaccess memory (RAM), digital registers, cache memory, semiconductormemory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks, magnetictapes and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media suchas CDROM disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), and so on.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary multi-network wireless communicationsystem 400 according to certain embodiments. As shown in FIG. 4, amobile device (handset, UE, etc.) 430 is within the coverage area of twowireless systems 410A, 410B; of course there could be more. In FIG. 4,for example, wireless system 410A might be an LTE system that uses anenhanced Node B (eNB) 420A to communicate with wireless device 430.Likewise, wireless system 410B might be a Wi-Fi network that uses anaccess point (AP) to communication with wireless device 430. Wirelesssystems 410A, 410B may be other communication protocols/standards aswell. Mobile device 430 can include a separate antenna (not shown) foreach of wireless systems 410A, 410B, which creates in mobile device 430the ability to, for example, transmit on wireless system 410A (e.g., theLTE network) at the same time it is receiving on wireless system 410B(e.g., the Wi-Fi network). When this occurs, the transmission onwireless system 410A can interfere with the reception on wireless system410B, causing mobile device 430 to fail in receiving the wireless system410B information. While this application may make reference to specificwireless networks and/or communication protocols/standards, thedisclosure is intended to be generally applicable to all dual (or more)wireless communication systems/networks/protocols/standards.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary multi-network, adjacent channelinterference frequency profile 500 according to certain embodiments. Asshown in FIG. 5, frequency (f) is provided along the horizontal axis(e.g., the y-axis) and (not-to-scale) signal power or strength isprovided along the vertical axis (e.g., the x-axis). Two wirelessnetworks are illustrated, a cellular system with a low cellular bandprofile 510 and a high cellular band profile 520 and an industrial,scientific and medical (ISM) system with an ISM band profile 530. Thesebands could be, for example: LTE band 40 for the low cellular band, LTEband 7 for the high cellular band and Wi-Fi for the ISM band. As usedherein, the ISM radio bands are radio bands reserved internationally forindustrial, scientific and medical purposes. However, despite the intentof the original allocations for these ISM purposes, the fastest-growinguses of the ISM bands have been for short-range, low powercommunications systems, such as: cordless phones, Bluetooth devices,near field communication (NFC) devices, and other wireless computernetworks (e.g., Wi-Fi).

In certain embodiments, low and/or high cellular band profiles 510, 520,as shown in FIG. 5, may indicate a transmission by a mobile device,while the ISM band profile 530 might indicate a reception at the mobiledevice. Note that the power levels or signal strengths shown in FIG. 5are not to scale, but are for illustrative purposes only. In practice,the LTE transmit power can be many orders of magnitude greater than thereceived Wi-Fi signal strength. The low and/or high cellular bands canbe adjacent or nearly adjacent to the edges of the Wi-Fi band. Thus, thetails of each frequency band can bleed over or leak into the neighboringbands. The crosshatching shown in FIG. 5 illustrates the leakage 540 ofthe low and/or high cellular bands in the Wi-Fi band. Leakage 540, whenas mentioned above the LTE transmit power is orders of magnitude greaterthan the Wi-Fi received signal strength, can cause the mobile device tofail when trying to receive the Wi-Fi signal (i.e., the UE LTEtransmission can cause Wi-Fi reception failure).

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary general mobile device architecture 600for handling multi-network wireless communications according to certainembodiments. As shown in FIG. 6, UE architecture 600 can includeapplication processing 610, coupled via a bus 640 to cellular processing620 and Wi-Fi processing 630. Each of the processing blocks in FIG. 6can include a separate processor chip with integrated and/or stand-alonememory, and/or two or more of the processing blocks can be combinedtogether into one processor chip with integrated and/or stand-alonememory. If combined into one processor chip, then bus 640 may becompletely internal to that one processor chip. For example, processingblocks 610, 620, 630 can be implemented in UE processor 230 as shown inFIG. 2, or application processing 610 may be implemented in UE processor230, with cellular processing 620 and Wi-Fi processing 630 beingimplemented in one or two separate chips (not shown in FIG. 2) coupledto UE processor 230.

Referring back to FIG. 6, the actions of cellular processing 620 andWi-Fi processing 630 can be controlled or directed by applicationsprocessing 610. For example, applications processing 610 could instructa cellular call via cellular processing 620, while at the same timeinstruct a file download via Wi-Fi processing 630. Likewise, cellularprocessing 620 and Wi-Fi processing 630 can report call and/or datatraffic status and or settings to applications processing 610. Also,cellular processing 620 can be connected to Wi-Fi processing 630 via acell-ISM link 650. In certain embodiments, cell-ISM link 650 can be ahigher-speed, more effective communication link between cellularprocessing 620 and Wi-Fi processing 630 than having to communicate viabus 640 (e.g., milliseconds or less vs. microseconds or more) andapplications processing 610. Cell-ISM link 650 can allow cellularprocessing 620 and Wi-Fi processing 630 to communicate in a moremeaningful way relative to the speed with which each communicates withoutside networks (not shown). For example, if Wi-Fi processing 630 weretrying to receive high priority information, it could send a message tocellular processing 620 via cell-ISM link 650 advising cellularprocessing 620 that the Wi-Fi priority activity requires protection fromcellular transmissions, and because of the higher-speed of cell-ISM link650, cellular processing 620 could have time to react to the Wi-Fimessage in a way that could protect the Wi-Fi reception from beinginterfered with by an upcoming cellular transmission.

In certain embodiments, when cellular processing 620 is presented withsuch a request or message from Wi-Fi processing 630 via cell-ISM link650, one basic protection that cellular processing 620 could offer Wi-Fiprocessing is to not transmit at all during the interval in which Wi-Fiprocessing 630 is attempting reception of the high priority information.However, there could be several potential problems with deferring allcellular processing 620 scheduled transmissions whenever Wi-Fiprocessing 630 requests. One potential problem is that some cellulartransmission are also of high importance and if not made could cause thenetwork to drop the device from active service. Another potentialproblem is that, even if not of high importance, the deferred (i.e.,aborted) cellular transmissions must be replaced at some point in thefuture by one or more retransmissions. The retransmissions couldthemselves be in conflict with future Wi-Fi high priority receptions.This cycle of deferred transmissions by cellular processing 620 reducesthe probability of success for those cellular transmissions. Even whenthe retransmissions are ultimately successful, the system capacities andefficiencies, including those of cellular processing 620, are reduced.

As previously stated, certain embodiments of this application aredisclosed in terms of an LTE transmission coexisting with a Wi-Fireception in a wireless device, along with possible options for managingthat coexistence. However, techniques and devices described herein arenot intended to be so limited. Those skilled in the art, after learningfrom this disclosure, will appreciate the general scope of coverage ofthis application, which is captured in the scope of the claims.

LTE uplink (UL) transmissions can vary dramatically in the extent towhich they might harm Wi-Fi receptions, especially when they coexist onthe same wireless device. This is because LTE UL allocations can vary ona millisecond by millisecond basis in their power levels, bandwidths,and starting positions (e.g., frequency, etc.) in the LTE channel. Forsome specific hardware architecture, it might be possible to quantify,and therefore predict, how harmful a given LTE UL allocation will be toa given Wi-Fi reception (e.g., current and/or future Wi-Fi receptionsand/or LTE UL transmissions). Harm predictions, such as those describedin this application, can be devised to characterize an LTE allocation inreal-time or near real-time (e.g., milliseconds or faster basis).

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary LTE/Wi-Fi coexistence managementflowchart 700 according to certain embodiments. At 710, a handset (e.g.,116 or 122 in FIG. 1, 200 in FIG. 2, 430 in FIG. 4, and so on), has oneor more scheduled LTE transmissions and one or more incoming Wi-Fi datareceptions. In certain embodiments, applications processing 610 in FIG.6 can be informed about these by cellular processing 620 and Wi-Fiprocessing 630, respectively. At 720, the handset determines that one ormore scheduled LTE transmissions could interfere with one or more of theWi-Fi data receptions. This determination could be performed byapplications processing 610 in FIG. 6 and communicated to Wi-Fiprocessing 630 via bus 640, or Wi-Fi processing 630 could make thisdetermination independently.

At step 730, Wi-Fi processing can request protection from thepossibly-interfering LTE transmission. This can be performed by Wi-Fiprocessing 630 communicating the request to cellular processing 620 viacell-ISM link 650. The request can be in the form of a standardizedmessage or can be a design-specific message for this purpose. Themessage can include information about the impending Wi-Fi reception(e.g., frequency used, duration, etc.) and/or can request specificthings of LTE processor (e.g., refrain from transmitting for a specificinterval of time or on a specific channel, etc.). At step 740, afterreceiving the Wi-Fi processing protection request, LTE processingperforms harm prediction with conditional deferral (as described in moredetail herein).

At step 750, a decision is made as to whether the scheduled LTEtransmission (or uplink, UL) will be (or likely to be) harmful to theWi-Fi data reception for which protection is requested. Thisdetermination and decision can be performed by cellular processing 620.At step 760, if the LTE UL is deemed harmful (or likely harmful), thenthe LTE transmission can be deferred. At step 770, if the LTE UL isdeemed not harmful (or unlikely harmful), then the LTE transmission canhappen as scheduled and allocated. The transmission or deferral can befacilitated by cellular processing 620. While the steps of FIG. 7 arediscussed with reference to specific elements from FIG. 6, thisdescription is for illustrative purposes only and is not meant to limitthe scope of this application.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary harm prediction with conditionaldeferral flowchart 800 according to certain embodiments. Such aflowchart 800, for example, may correspond to steps 740-770 as shown anddiscussed with reference to FIG. 7 and as illustratively performed bycellular processing 620 of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 8, at step 810 LTEprocessor 620 has allocation information for an upcoming LTEtransmission (or uplink, UL) and has received a deferral requestrelating to that upcoming LTE transmission from, for example, Wi-Fiprocessor 630. The LTE allocation information can include, for example,a transmit power (TXP), a number of resource blocks (NRB) and afrequency channel for the upcoming LTE UL. Of course, other allocationinformation may be included. The deferral request could be sent via ahigh-speed link between LTE processor 620 and Wi-Fi processor 630, forexample, via cell-ISM link 650 in FIG. 6, because of the importance,priority, criticality, etc. of the incoming Wi-Fi data about to bereceived.

In certain embodiments, at steps 820-840, decisions are made todetermine whether that particular LTE transmission will be (or likelywill be) harmful to the Wi-Fi reception. These decisions, depending onhow each is configured, could be in any order and/or processed in aserial or parallel manner. The specific illustration of FIG. 8 is forexplanatory purposes only. At step 810, the allocated number of resourceblocks (NRB) is compared to a resource block limit (LIMRB). For example,if NRB is less than LIMRB; that is, if the number of allocated resourceblocks is below a certain limit on the number of resource blocks, thenthe LTE transmission does not have to be deferred. Put another way, ifthe number of allocated resource blocks is low enough, then the LTEtransmission will not harm (or likely not harm, based on some safetythreshold) the Wi-Fi reception.

Similarly, at step 830, suppose that the LTE frequency allocation is inthe lowest frequency channel of the high cellular band (i.e., Band 7).Then, defining the count of the first (lowest frequency) resource blockallocation as FSTRB, there can be a limit number for the first RB,LIMFRB (e.g., the limit on the first resource block allocation of Band7), that can be pre-determined (or in some instance, dynamicallydetermined) such that if FSTRB is greater than LIMFRB, then no deferralof the LTE transmission is necessary. Put another way, if the lowestresource block frequency is greater than some limit on that frequency,then the LTE transmission will not harm (or likely not harm, based onsome safety threshold) the Wi-Fi reception.

Likewise, at step 840, there can be a limit on the LTE transmit power(LIMTXP) whereby if the allocated transmit power for the upcoming LTE UL(TXP) is below LIMTXP, then no deferral of the LTE transmission isnecessary. Put another way, if the actual, allocated TXP is below somelimit (LIMTXP) then the LTE transmission will not harm (or likely notharm, based on some safety threshold) the Wi-Fi reception.

As shown in FIG. 8, at step 860, if any one or more of the limit checksmade is below the safety threshold(s) or is determined to not cause harmto the Wi-Fi reception, then no deferral of the LTE transmission willhappen. Alternatively, if none of the limit checks is below the safetythreshold(s) is determined to cause or likely cause harm to the Wi-Fireception, then at step 850 the LTE transmission can be deferred.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary harm prediction with conditionaldeferral flowchart 900 according to certain embodiments. As shown inFIG. 9, steps 810-820 and 840-860 are the same as discussed above withreference to FIG. 8. However, step 930 is new to FIG. 9, but generallysimilar to step 830 of FIG. 8. At step 930, suppose that the LTEfrequency allocation is in the highest frequency channel of the lowcellular band (i.e., Band 40). Then, defining the count of the last(highest frequency) resource block allocation as LSTRB, there can be alimit number for the last RB, LIMLRB (e.g., the limit on the lastresource block allocation of Band 40), that can be pre-determined (or insome instances, dynamically determined) such that if LSTRB is less thanLIMLRB, then no deferral of the LTE transmission is necessary. Putanother way, if the highest resource block frequency is less than somelimit on that frequency, then the LTE transmission will not harm (orlikely not harm, based on some safety threshold) the Wi-Fi reception.

As discussed above, each limit and/or threshold can be derived bycalculation, experimentation or simulation and/or pre-determined and/ordynamically determined. For example, a test system can be set up suchthat various LTE transmissions are performed based on many differentallocations and then measurements at the Wi-Fi receiver can be performedto determine which allocation factors can negatively affect a Wi-Fireception to an unacceptable degree (i.e., such that the Wi-Fi receptionwill fail or likely fail). Then, these limits can be used as describedherein for harm prediction with conditional deferral. Additionally,while each limit is discussed in terms of being one number (e.g. apass/fail criteria), each decision could have three or more paths (e.g.,yes, no and other). For example, if three paths were used, the yes andno decisions could have their own limits (i.e., like with hysteresis)and the other path to the next decision could be the in-between, orother, decision. Also, limits can be dynamically adjusted based onequipment and/or environmental variations. Finally, instead of limits, ascoring system can be used for each decision block, where the finaldeferral/no-deferral decision can be made based on the individual scoresof each decision block and/or as a function of those individual scoresor some combination of those individual scores (e.g., an additivefunction for final determination of the deferral/no-deferral decision).

Those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information andsignals may be represented using any of a variety of differenttechnologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands,information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referencedthroughout the above description may be represented by voltages,currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, opticalfields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of ordinary skill would further appreciate that the variousillustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, firmware, computer software, middleware, microcode,or combinations thereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeabilityof hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks,modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally interms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implementedas hardware or software depends upon the particular application anddesign constraints or preferences imposed on the overall system. Skilledartisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways foreach particular application, but such implementation decisions shouldnot be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of thedisclosed methods.

The various illustrative logical blocks, components, modules, andcircuits described in connection with the examples disclosed herein maybe implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theexamples disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in oneor more software modules executed by one or more processing elements, orin a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form or combination ofstorage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled tothe processor such that the processor can read information from, andwrite information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, thestorage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and thestorage medium may reside in an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC). The ASIC may reside in a wireless modem. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components inthe wireless modem.

The previous description of the disclosed examples is provided to enableany person of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosedmethods and apparatus. Various modifications to these examples will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles definedherein may be applied to other examples and additional elements may beadded.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a first processorconfigured to communicate using a first radio access technology (RAT);and a second processor configured to communicate using a second RAT thatis different than the first RAT; wherein the first processor isconfigured to send information to the second processor indicating a timeinterval during which the first processor will be receiving data via thefirst RAT; and wherein the second processor is configured to determinewhether to defer a scheduled transmission of data via the second RATbased at least in part on a transmit power of the scheduledtransmission.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second processoris configured to determine to defer the scheduled transmission of databased at least in part on the transmit power of the scheduledtransmission comparing in a predetermined manner with a threshold valuein a predetermined manner.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein theapparatus is configured to dynamically determine the threshold value. 4.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second processor is furtherconfigured to determine whether to defer the scheduled transmission ofdata based at least in part on a number of resource blocks of thescheduled transmission.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the firstRAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT and the second RAT is acellular RAT.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a resource for thescheduled transmission is allocated to the apparatus by a cellular basestation.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises amobile device configured to perform multiple-in-multiple-outcommunications via the second RAT.
 8. A method, comprising: receiving,by a wireless processor from another wireless processor, informationindicating a time interval during which data will be received via afirst radio access technology (RAT); determining, by the wirelessprocessor, a transmit power of a scheduled transmission of data via asecond RAT; and determining, by the wireless processor in response tothe information, whether to defer the scheduled transmission during thetime interval based at least in part on the transmit power of thescheduled transmission.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprisingdetermining to defer the scheduled transmission based at least in parton the transmit power of the scheduled transmission comparing with athreshold value in a predetermined manner.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising dynamically determining the threshold value.
 11. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the determining whether to defer thescheduled transmission is further based on a number of resource blocksof the scheduled transmission.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein thefirst RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT and the second RATis a cellular RAT.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein resources for thescheduled transmission are allocated to the wireless processor by acellular base station.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving instructions stored thereon that are executable by a mobiledevice to perform operations comprising: receiving, by a first processorof the mobile device from a second processor of the mobile device,information indicating a time interval during which data will bereceived via a first radio access technology (RAT); determining atransmit power of a scheduled transmission of data, by the firstprocessor, via a second RAT; and determining, in response to theinformation, whether to defer the scheduled transmission during the timeinterval based on the transmit power of the scheduled transmission. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein theoperations further comprise determining to defer the scheduledtransmission based at least in part on the transmit power of thescheduled transmission comparing in a predetermined manner with athreshold value.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the operations further comprise determining thethreshold value based at least in part on an equipment variation. 17.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein thedetermining whether to defer the scheduled transmission is further basedon a number of resource blocks of the scheduled transmission.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the firstRAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT and the second RAT is acellular RAT.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim14, wherein a resource for the scheduled transmission is allocated tothe mobile device by a cellular base station.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations furthercomprise performing multiple-in-multiple-out communications via thesecond RAT.